The Race Card Project
By Michele Norris
Abby,
Sparta, NC
Everybody thinks that just because there are a couple of crooked cops out there, that all cops are bad. My dad happens to be a cop and everybody loves him. He does his job very clean and keeps everybody safe. He’s not biased and treats everybody fair. Along with the rest of his crew, all of them are very good cops and they get the job done and done right.
Justin Walker,
Bennington, VT.
As a police officer I quite often get the “you only stopped me because I’m black” or some variant of that excuse. Well I work the nightshift and it is impossible for me to to who I’m pulling over until I get to the car. Until I get to the car window I don’t know who they are, black, white, purple, pink or yellow. All I know is I’ve stopped this car for going 75 in a 55 mph zone. I know this is a simple interaction and there are many other potential situations that occur, but this is what I feel is a misconception among many people. I can speak for many other officers when I say we are simply trying to do a job. Believe it or not, we are not all bad people.
V.
USA
I’d rather not share my name right now due to the sensitive nature of the incident. While working undercover, I decided to duck into a burger joint to get a bite. It was cold and drizzly outside. I was wearing a hoodie. I am Latino. It was about midnight. I admit that I looked rough in a rough neighborhood, but I wasn’t breaking any laws. As I was ordering, a large white cop approached me and told me to take off my hood. I asked him why and he said “because I said so”. I didn’t think he was serious and I tried to ignore him until he demanded that I take off my hood. I told him no. He grabbed my arm and attempted an arm lock on me to facilitate hand cuffing. He said that he would arrest me. I gave in. I was hungry, after all. I told him ok, and I took off my hoodie. He won. He went back and sat down with a colleague of his.
After I ordered, I walked over to him and sat down with him and the other cop. I gave him a piece of my mind as I tossed my badge on the table in front of him. They said that I should have told them I was a cop and they wouldn’t have treated me like that. I said “so you wouldn’t have violated my civil rights if you knew I was a cop?” They were speechless.
“You’re the reason people hate cops” I said to them.
William McCullough,
Opelika, AL
Especially now in today’s world police get labeled with racists. Why is this? I believe that it’s because of the actions of a few. There are very many racist police in America and they do act upon their so-called beliefs. But because of their actions, all police get labeled as racist. This doesn’t sit right to me. Some people will argue with me on that point but I will argue back. They will say ‘Well the officer who killed George Floyd was white and it was because of his race’. To that, I would say okay and agree with their point. It’s sad this is what makes national news in America. You don’t see the good that has been done or that’s happening every single day. There is definitely oppressing happening among all races but most among the African American community especially in America. It’s still going on today and has as long as anyone can remember. I don’t care what political party your claim or agree with you have to see what’s going on. There is always something to be done whether you are going to stand up and do something about it. It is hard to ignore, especially living in the south. You may not see the harshest parts of racism but there are still small parts in which you see every day. So that brings me back to the point, does that make me racist? I’ll actually make it easier, I’m white am I Racist?
Tim Wagner,
Fairfield, CT
Come from a conversation I was having with friends. One friend saying how it was a bad time to be a cop in the United States. My other friends, who is an ex-cop, said that was true. He then said, it has always been a bad time to be Black in the United States.
Brett Maisel
Nacogdoches, TX
As a young, naive police officer I mistakenly thought most people would appreciate my sincere desire to help and protect the citizens of my community. I was shocked to find out that some people (who didn’t even know my name, background or what was in my heart) hated the very sight of me only because I was a white police officer.
Paul Meyer,
Chicago, IL.
I am a bigot toward bigots. My so-called best friend in third grade gives me, a Jew, a Nazi ring saying, “my father wants you to have this.” My fiancé when I’m 33 hurls slurs toward hispanics. Others throughout my life condemn my race or other peoples’ races. I just disown these racists, until last year, with the horrific killing of a 17-year-old unarmed black high school student by a racist Chicago cop. It moved me, at age 69, to start marching for the first time in my life. I feel that maybe my activism, although I was only one of 500 marchers, helped quash the reelection of the Illinois Prosecutor who was part of the coverup for the young man’s murder. And I feel good about that. But not satisfied. So I brought the young man’s story and my stories to the stage (at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwwNMBFf0jM), beseeching my fellow North Side Chicagoans “to march with our fellow citizens from Chicago’s South Side.” I have no data on the impact of my performance but conservative folks I know have weighed in favorably on my message. Perhaps if more of us could elevate our activism to “actionism,” if we could expand our race card in creative ways to non-activist audiences, we may at least open some otherwise closed minds.
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